Nice Strip, Shame about the Name.

Despite the Hyundai A League draw being announced last week and the latest addition to the league not having a name or a ground to play at, the FFA, who own the West Sydney Franchise have rectified that this week.

Today they unveiled the name, the logo, the home ground and the colours of the A League’s latest club, one that is going to carry a massive burden of expectation. For if this club fails to perform, attract fans in their droves, and turn a profit, not only will the Hyundai A League pay a heavy price, but so too will those at the top of the Football Federation of Australia. They have to get this right. There is no room for any mistakes, and the whole of the footballing public are watching.

The club unveiled the strip today along with their first three signings all from the Western suburbs, Aaron Mooy, Tarek Elrich and Kwabena Appiah-Kubi. The strip is red and black hoops similar to AC Milan with white shorts and black socks; a stylish and proven kit that will no doubt be embraced by many in the Italian community, and unfortunately reviled by others; such is football.

The name that the club will carry into the 2012 A League season is to put it mildly a mouthful, Western Sydney Wanderers. Hopefully this will soon be abbreviated to simply ‘Wanderers’ in time. According to the FFA over ‘15,000 people completed an online survey to help define the name, colours, culture and values of their football club’ and the ‘six western Sydney football associations and NSW Premier League clubs from the region were active partners in the process.’

The club badge is meant to be representative of the area,incorporating the key elements of the Western Sydney landscape;the mountains, valleys and winding river system in the region. To be honest it looks similar to the letters in my bowl when I ate Heinz’s Alphabetti Spaghetti as a child. It smacks of some graphic designer trying to be too clever by half.

With so many parties consulted to come up with a name, a strip and a badge one hopes that the public really get behind this club when they run out at Parramatta Stadium. They have a good coach in place in Tony Popovic, but with only three players signed and a season starting in 14 weeks they will need to sign some players in the coming weeks to be sure to get a quality pre-season behind them and ensure that they are competitive on that opening day when they play the Central Coast Mariners. Their performance on that day will have a huge impact on their future and should not be underestimated.

Certainly the community can have no complaints, they have the strip they want, the name they want now all they have to hope is the sign some of the players they want. Western Sydney Wanderers must succeed for football in Australia to continue marching forward.